The only opinions you'll find on my blog are my own. The products I use, for the most part, are ones that I purchase myself unless I indicate otherwise. They are all products which I enjoy using and would recommend. I do participate in affiliate programs with Amazon.com, Blick Art Supplies, Ellen Hutson LLC, Gina K, Sizzix, Scrapbook.com, and Simon Says Stamp, and affiliate links are used whenever possible. Purchasing products by clicking on my affiliate links costs you nothing extra and helps support my artistic endeavors and this blog, and I thank you.

October 08, 2014

This was actually the first card I developed for this workshop. Usually, I ask what the hostess is interested in seeing, either in samples or projects, so I can put a bit of that in the mix, and the hostess told me she was very interested in Traveler.

I had seen a card on Pinterest that used the reflection technique with the ship stamp, and that seemed to me to be a great technique for this workshop as most of the stampers I know appreciate a good masculine birthday card because everyone needs them, but we just don't design as many of them as the ones for women and kids. This card fell together with absurd ease:

MOJUS! (YILM!) There are a lot of ways to get the reflection technique, including using a Stamp-A-Ma-Jig sheet, but I like a nice window sheet for a workshop setting, since I don't want to make people clean the sheet. I have a box of acetate sheets meant for overhead projectors that is still going strong probably 9 years after I bought the thing, so I cut small squares of the stuff so everyone had their own. Basically, you stamp the ship at the top of the cardstock, stamp again on the acetate, flip it over and line it up to make the reflection, and gently rub the back to transfer the ink. Add a little sponging, a bit of blender pen with the black ink, and white gel pen for water and ripples, and you have this FABULOUS result (YILM!)

We also used the World Map background, and I had a few people buy that background just from this card, as well as a number of Traveler sets. That's how I know I created a good project!

You can order anything that I used to make this card just by clicking on a picture below:

October 07, 2014

I know I have been pretty quiet for...way too long, actually! But I have a group that has a workshop twice a year, and it's a biggy, so I was spending a lot of time getting ready for it, designing projects (and agonizing over whether each one was "right" for this group or not), cutting the cardstock, putting together paper packets, and trying to streamline the process. A large workshop is a unique experience, and I personally LOVE doing parties for large groups. I like to think I am pretty darned good at them! Small parties are fun too, but with a large group I design and set up for self-guided stamping with a set of step-by-step instructions for each project, and then I circulate and answer questions as they come up. People finish a project, and then move to another table for another project, and there is a ton of energy in the room.

It went very well, and I was happy to be feeling well this time. The first party I did for this group, I was coming down with the stomach flu the same day, and I felt like death on toast and tried to keep my distance as much as possible. I got home and fell into bed and slept for 2 hours, but it didn't help. This time I also hired my daughter, Emily, to help me, and she was wonderful, helping me carry things, set up, was my Big Shot table attendant, and helped me break down and pack the car. For a change I didn't feel totally exhausted by the whole thing.

ANYWAY, this is one of the cards the ladies made, and I have to say it sold many sets of For All Things, a great set that you just MUST play with to appreciate! Lookie:

GOJUS! (YILM!) I love the combination of colors in the Color Me Autumn suite, so I used those. Because I didn't want to buy 5 sets of buttons to get enough to do this workshop, I did a thing:

It's actually a piece of the gold paper run through the Big Shot with the Little Pieces Embosslit. Everyone got a piece of gold foil paper big enough to cut every piece in the Embosslit, and they took the rest of the pieces home to use on other cards.The button looks real, doesn't it? And the gold baker's twine makes the perfect accent!

I'm glad to be back to blogging, and I sure have a lot of material to work with now!

Here's a list of the schtuff I used to make this card. You can buy any or all of it by clicking on the pictures to travel to my magical webstore!

March 11, 2014

Every now and then, I find something in Stampin' Success, the magazine for demos, that I just have to make.

This time it was a nugget holder from a recent issue made with the new Scalloped Tag Topper punch. I saw it and knew it would be the perfect project for my most recent workshop. Of course, I changed it up to make it my own, and the ladies at the workshop loved it!

Then when it was time to submit my projects for the March Creative Crew gallery, and one of those projects was to do something in 3D or a scrapbook project showing something we love, I knew that my love of chocolate qualified this little project to be my submission. Lookie:

Discounted products are available on all order types (customer, demonstrator, workshop, and online).

There's no minimum purchase required to participate in this promotion. Sale on!

For product bundles, you need to use the bundle item numbers
provided. If you use individual item numbers, you won't get the
discount--bummer.

You can buy additional products from any of our current catalogs on the same order.

I'm excited that Stampin' Up! is offering more online promotions because my online customers totally rock and are the reason I'm still doing this! I'm mighty appreciative of your business and love it that Stampin' Up! is tailoring some sales just for you! I also love that these sales can be extended to my class customers as well, so if you are coming a week from today, you'll be able to take advantage of the discounted items available on that day.

It's been pretty danged busy around here, as usual. Mom's taxi service is in full swing. We spent an ungodly amount of money on gas in October, so this month we are trying to combine as many trips as possible. I'm thinking it's time to retire the good ole JanTink Stampin' Mobile and get something that has better mileage, but since I don't have any cash to put down, I will have to trade the van in and get the best deal I can. Whatever I get will have to save more in gas than I would be spending on it's payment, so it's going to have to be "pre-owned", get fantastic mileage, and probably will already have some significant miles on it. I hate change but at the same time I like new schtuff.

Anyway, here's another card from the class that wasn't. I'm not sure what this sort of card is called, but probably saw it on Pinterest, since that is where EVERYTHING can be found these days! Lookie:

March 24, 2012

Thought I'd show you some of the cards we have been doing at workshops recently. With the improvement in the economy, I have gotten some new hostesses ready to have some stamping fun with their friends, which I am happy to provide.

So the two cards I am showing you are from Rachel's workshop. She booked off a workshop I held in December. She was much struck by a Reverse Masking card she had seen in my box of samples and wondered if we could do a card like that. Lookie:

STINKIN' CUTE!! (YILM!) I actually designed this card back in August for my open house, but thought it would make an equally good workshop card. It was hard getting the colors right in this photo and the Rich Razzleberry still is not quite right, but you get the idea.

If you live in Metro Detroit and want to host a workshop to provide some stamping fun for family and friends as well as receiving some free product, please feel free to contact me!

And now for the good news. My husband's Social Security Disability claim has finally been approved, more than a year after we first applied and after first being turned down. He won on appeal, thanks to great lawyers and his doctors going to bat for him, as well as a judge who listened carefully to all the testimony. Not to mention an awesome God who has been faithful to us. Our thanks go out to everyone who has been so faithful to pray for a good outcome. Now it's just a matter of waiting to find out the amount of the benefit and moving on to a new chapter in our lives. Ta!

December 28, 2011

Did you have a lovely Christmas? I know I did. I also know I was STINKIN' BUSY, between shopping, cooking, wrapping, decorating, practicing the organ for Christmas Eve, baking, and, oh yes, FIXING MY STINKIN' COMPUTER!!

Yes, my hard drive took a dive last Thursday, just as I was getting ready to start working. I looked down a minute to adjust my pedal, and when I looked up the screen was black, with just my cursor blinking rapidly on the screen. When I tried to start the Task Manager, it just stopped blinking but nothing happened. So there was nothing for it but to reboot the thing and get the awful message "Hard disk not exist".

I have to think Bill Gates has cavemen working for him. "Hard disk not exist"? You can't put the word "does" in there somewhere? While "Hard disk does not exist" gets the message across nicely, you might consider "Does hard disk not exist?",which would add a plaintive note of existential pathos to a situation that is already fraught with sorrow to begin with. Or you could go all Yoda-like and say "Hard disk exist does not". Just a little thought, Bill.

So I was stuck buying a new hard drive plus a copy of Windows 7 because my copy is an upgrade and I had no hard copy of Vista to upgrade from, since it came installed on my laptop and why should ever need a disk, right? Bah (humbug!)

Then of course, came the fun of reloading software, including things that required a fresh activation code, hard to obtain over the Christmas weekend, and restoring my personal files from my online back up. I lost a few things, even things that should not have been lost. I am having to rebuild my expander files for work, which is a pain in the bucket. And I had to reinstall all my fonts I had purchased for scrapbooking.

One of the worst things, though, is reloading all my purchased My Digital Studio downloads. Being the lemming that I am, I have {cough} a lot of them, and I am not finished yet.

But mostly, I am good to go again. After the orgy of cooking, wrapping, etc, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I dragged my can downstairs, completed my Controlfreaks Occasions mini swaps and sent them on their way yesterday.

Since I have been somewhat incommunicado over the past few weeks, I have a backlog of Christmas projects that I have made but not shown. So let the parade begin:

This little number was a project we did at one of my workshops in December. Lookie at what is inside:

It's an easy project for party favors, classroom treats, what have you. Cut the cardstock at 2-1/2" x 9-1/2". Score at 2", 2-1/2", 6", 8", and 8-1/2". Wheel or stamp a design. Punch with the Word Window bunch between the 8" scoreline and the 8-1/2". Fold as shown. Adhere the image to the front in such a way that the upper flap tucks behind it.

As you can see by the inscription, this was originally meant to be one of three that I was going to make for William's teachers. But time got away from me and I ended up raiding the card stash to put their cards in.

STINKIN' CUTE!!! (YILM!) I was inspired by similar projects in the Holiday mini on page 11 with these cute little cello bags. These would look great hanging on the tree, with the understanding that they will be removed and eaten when Christmas comes. Of course, you could make these for any occasion. And you know what?

The Holiday mini is still good until January 3rd, 2012, so it's still possible to get all of the things I used from there for these projects! You'll have a jump on everyone else when they are scrambling to make Christmas projects next year because you will have all the stuff already! Heck, you can even make this stuff in July and really have a jump on things! Just hop on over to my website and order a bunch!

Okay, shameless commercial plug is over. Back to the grind of everyday life. For those of you not of the Christmas persuasion:

October 09, 2009

I sat down to just close my eyes for a minute this morning and an hour and a half later, here I am. One part of me rejoices in the extra sleep, while the other part is totally peevedd about wasting quality child-free time. Oh well...that's what happens on a cold rainy day. Laurel has a half-day today, which makes the peeved part even MORE peeved. "You could have slept this afternoon!!!" it screams, "Why did you go and fall asleep this morning!" Obviously, the answer is a lack of chocolate, which I quickly remedied after I woke up!

I've got two more workshop projects to show you today! This first is a reworking of an earlier card that Ruth had seen on my blog and wanted to know how to make. The problem being that it was made with Baja Breeze and Walk in the Park paper, so I had to do some quick thinking to figure out how to rework it for current product. So instead of the DSP, I ended up using my new French Filigree background stamp, which I hadn't gotten around to using yet. Lookie:

For the last card, Ruth was interested in a sample I posted using my gel pen resist technique. I wanted to squeeze at least ONE Christmas card into this workshop, so I created a card with this technique and Serene Snowflakes. Lookie:

If you missed this technique the first time around: stamp on a light colored cardstock, add highlights to the images with the gel pen, then sponge more color on top. Then erase the gel pen with a good eraser. This takes a bit of elbow grease and you don't want to leave it too long, because the longer the gel pen dries, the harder it is to erase. But you get a lovely ethereal look with this resist technique, impossible with crayon resist. If you were to try to add these highlights after you did the sponging, the white gel pen absorbs color from the ink you used and you don't have the same look at all, at all. Yes, I am STINKIN' CLEVER! I deserve more chocolate!!!

Well, now that I've wasted half the morning sleeping, I should really try to get this stamp room straightened up a bit so I can actually STAMP IN IT. Instead of looking hopelessly at the mess and going on Facebook and playing games. Ta!

August 17, 2009

This morning looks like a busy one! Laurel is going to orientation today. Her school starts on Wednesday and we have to buy shoes. Shoes which are, sigh, going to be VERY hard to find. Apparently, her school decided that ballet flats and shoes like them are just too dangerous on the stairs, so they want the girls to wear dark colored lace up dress shoes.

The problem is finding lace up dress shoes that a teenage girl wants to wear that doesn't have a heel that makes her look like a Catholic school girl gone bad. Or doesn't look like she's dressing up to play Granny in the Beverly Hillbillies. There aren't any. Trust me, I have looked online until I was blue in the face. And that was just relying on MY taste, which is not exactly the same as Laurel's. So it's going to be a frantic two day search for shoes.

In the meantime, I thought I would put these up here for your viewing enjoyment and will also be creating a page for them. I got to thinking about having workshops and how many people have no idea what kind of projects they might be able to do at one of my workshops! So I made two so far and will be posting more as I create them.

My standard workshop package is almost always THO (Totally Hands On). That means I do not demonstrate projects that you do not make. Unless you want me to, that is. I do make exceptions when the hostess wants a scrapbooking project demonstrated, and then we usually make one or two projects as well. But these workshops I'm showing you are THO. Workshops can be held in your home, in my stamping room, or for larger groups, at my church. Workshops differ from a class in that the guests do not pay and all orders are gathered together and the hostess of the workshop receives hostess benefits based on how much their friends purchase. BUT while hostesses love to get things for free, they also love to provide a good time for the friends whom they invite and THAT is MY job!

Cute Halloween Workshop - Now Booking for September & early October

You'll note I have toned down these projects a bit from my usual, because I don't want to frighten anyone away who is a new stamper! These are designed to be done by people of all skill levels, whereas my class projects tend to be...cough...a bit more demanding!

SAWEEEEETTT!!! (YILM!) I am loving this new set, which I got as a special demo promotion for only $5! I am going to get a lot of use out of this one.

This workshop is meant for people who like cute Halloween projects that they can make for the kids or the young at heart in their lives. I will be developing a more adult style Halloween workshop as well, so stay tuned!

If you live in my area and would like to book this workshop with me, please email me at jantink (at sign) sbcglobal (dot) net.

Elegant Holiday Workshop - now booking for September through early December

This workshop features two elegant, yet easy cards featuring products from the Holiday Mini catalog.

GOJUS!!! (YILM!) This workshop features using the Big Shot to create easy and elegant backgrounds for holiday cards using stamps and products from the Holiday Mini catalog.

If you live in my area and would like to book this workshop with me, please email me at jantink (at sign) sbcglobal (dot) net.

If you don't like either of these (which, frankly, I have a hard time understanding, but then, everyone is different (cue Ray Stevens singing "Everything is Beautiful"...wait...nevermind!)) ANYWAY, I can always design a workshop based on your particular needs and desires for you and your guests. Because, when it comes to workshops, it's really all about you and them. Not me. Though I do get to stand up in front of you and show off. And. I. Like. It.

Ooops! Time to get going! I'm hanging with Sharon this afternoon, since her house is close to Laurel's school, and having some stampy fun! Ta!